Warning: check your injector return lines before they fail on the highway

Last Thursday I was hauling a loaded trailer down I-35 near Austin and my 7.3 Powerstroke started running rough and dumping fuel everywhere. Turns out a cracked return line was letting air into the system and it almost caused a runaway condition. Has anyone else had return lines fail without any warning or leaking first?

3 comments

3 Comments

betty_palmer27d ago

Oh man that is rough! I had almost the same thing happen on my old 7.3 about two years ago. I was headed home from a job and the truck just started surging and missing real bad. No leak at all before that, just a tiny crack in one of the return lines that was sucking air. The worst part is these trucks will run away if you don't catch it quick enough. I'd check all the rubber lines even if they look fine, they get hard and brittle over time.

valw3627d ago

Is a runaway diesel that common on a 7.3? I've heard about it online but never actually seen it happen to anyone in person. Maybe it's because people keep up on maintenance more than they let on. I mean a tiny crack in a return line sucking air will give you fits but I feel like it takes a lot more than that to actually make the engine run away uncontrolled. Usually you'd have to have a big leak or a busted injector dumping fuel for it to get scary like that. I'd probably just replace the lines and keep driving without worrying too much about the worst case scenario.

troythompson23d ago

Heard the same thing from a diesel shop owner, said those rubber lines are the number one cause of mysterious surging.